ISLAMABAD, Dec 31, 2023 (BSS/AFP) - Jailed former Pakistan prime minister

Imran Khan and most of his supporters have been rejected as candidates for
the February 8 election, party officials said Sunday after nominations for
the ballot closed.

Khan has been in prison since August, facing trial over a slew of cases he
insists have been orchestrated to prevent him from contesting the election as
the figurehead of his Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party.

The former cricket star was found guilty of graft earlier this year, but a
court suspended his three-year sentence and the conviction is being appealed.

The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) disqualified him from office over
the conviction, but PTI turned in nomination papers for Khan last week
regardless.

"Nomination papers of almost all national and provincial leaders of PTI,
including Imran Khan, have been rejected," said PTI spokesman Raoof Hasan.
"90 to 95 percent of our candidates' papers have been rejected."

Hasan told AFP candidates were being blocked as part of an "agenda" to
prevent PTI from contesting the election.

"All tactics are being tried for this purpose but, under any circumstances,
we will not leave the political ground and will not boycott the elections,"
he said.

An election commission official told AFP various PTI candidates had been
rebuffed including Khan, based on his conviction.

The commission is due to announce the final list of contesting candidates on
January 23.

PTI's claim it is already being frozen out of the electoral process is likely
to lead to a slew of appeals to the ECP and various courts.

"We will stay in the elections and will file appeals against all these
decisions in each of the constituencies and will use all our constitutional,
legal and political options," Hasan said.

Khan, 71, was ousted last year after falling out with Pakistan's powerful
military leaders who backed him into power in 2018.

In opposition, he waged an unprecedented campaign of defiance against the
military establishment which has directly ruled the nation for much of its
history.

He accused them of engineering his removal from office in a no-confidence
vote via a US-backed conspiracy and of plotting an assassination attempt that
saw him wounded.

After Khan's brief detention in May sparked unrest, PTI has been the subject
of a widespread crackdown, with leading figures either jailed or forced to
leave the party.